Men's and women's fashion and jewelry are available in the petite boutique Fiat Lux.

Men's and women's fashion and jewelry are available in the petite boutique Fiat Lux.

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Menswear by Menk, one of several designers featured at Fiat Lux.

Menswear by Menk, one of several designers featured at Fiat Lux.

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A romper by Ric-Rac.

A romper by Ric-Rac.

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Tiny boutique's big game: Shining a light on S.F. designers

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While the Stanford Cardinal and the University of California Bears may be squaring off for the Big Game today, I know of one Stanford student who had no issue adopting the Berkeley school’s motto for his own purposes.

A true hole in the wall, Fiat Lux (“Let there be light”) has to be one of the smallest boutiques in San Francisco: between 250 and 300 square feet, according to proprietor and jewelry designer Alexei Angelides, who’s also working on a doctorate in philosophy at Stanford. Yet the tiny Church Street shop stays true to its name by shining light on some of the city’s most intriguing clothing and jewelry designers–with relatively pint-sized prices to match.

“In San Francisco, there seems to be two different scenes. There’s high fashion, like Alexander Wang, and there’s the DIY crafting. There seems to be little in between those two scenes, and we’re trying to fill that niche,” explains Angelides, who opened the store in March with fellow jewelry maker and partner Marie McCarthy. “We look for designers who are ambitious and exacting and intelligent. And all of them, including me and Marie, do it not just for fun, but because they’re out to change something about the way people think of the stuff they’re invested in.”

One such designer is Autie Carlisle, who created several new exclusive lines for Fiat Lux — including neoprene and knitwear items and dresses — before she joined Proenza Schouler in New York this fall. [September] Metalsmith Meagan Reelitz, who makes Art Deco-inspired, chunky necklaces and rings–“as elegant as postcard stamps of that period’s architecture,” Angelides says–has also produced pieces just for the shop.

Other S.F. notables in the new fall lookbook include jeweler Sheila B. and Menk menswear designer Mansha Khithani. “The way she cuts her jackets and button-ups is tight in the the chest, so very postwar and old school, and it transforms boys to dapper men,” says Angelides, adding jokingly, “I wish that had been a band.”

Menswear prices run from $26 to $300, including Culture Consumer tees for $32 and Menk button-ups and Ric-Rac hoodies from $90. Women’s clothing starts at $26 for T-shirts by Tight Flavor and includes silk-screened cashmere pieces by Stella Neptune from $89 and Kucoon hoodies for $124 before topping out at Carlisle’s neoprene evening coat for $400. Prices for jewelry range from $19 to $450, including Angelides’ men’s rings from $80 and McCarthy’s Bellaflora line of preserved flower pieces at $290.

And speaking of old school design, the former cupcake shop (another passing trend?) also stocks unused vintage accessories such as Hermes ties (from $79), designer sunglasses from Louis Vuitton, Dior and others ($169 to $1,200), and even a pair of “extremely rare” Vuitton trainers, per Angelides, for $1,300.

But most items cost much less. “In all of it, our goal is to keep prices decent,” says Angelides.

“Marie and I both feel that the indie scene here is pricey, and that often you don’t get what you overpay for. I bought her a handmade ring once at a shop a few years back, gold-plated, for $150, and two weeks later it was turning her finger green,” he recalls. “If you pay $150 for a gold-plated ring here, you can bet the underlying metal is sterling silver and the designer has coated it in anti-tarnish agents. Those little details are really important to us, even if it’s not to the customer.”